Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 23, 2026.
Fairfield County, Ohio, has about 168,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office and eight city agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Fairfield County public records, Ohio arrest records, Ohio inmate search and Ohio criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Fairfield County
The Fairfield County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Fairfield County. It reported 230 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists eight cities in Fairfield County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Lancaster, 41,671 residents: 446 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pickerington, 25,814 residents: 136 arrests reported for 2025.
- Baltimore, 3,089 residents.
- Lithopolis, 2,859 residents: 16 arrests reported for 2021.
- Millersport, 993 residents.
- Pleasantville, 954 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
- Carroll, 501 residents.
- Sugar Grove, 408 residents.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The Buckeye Lake Police Department, the Reynoldsburg Police Department and the Columbus Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Fairfield County, so their arrests are not broken out for Fairfield County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Fairfield County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Pleasantville: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Lancaster: 446 for 2025, 411 for 2024, 431 for 2023, 443 for 2022, 529 for 2020 and 674 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Fairfield County Sheriff's Office: 230 for 2025, 299 for 2024, 486 for 2023, 602 for 2022, 538 for 2021 and 491 for 2020.
- Pickerington: 136 for 2025, 159 for 2024, 165 for 2023, 126 for 2022, 120 for 2021 and 129 for 2020.
- Lithopolis: 16 for 2021 and 7 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,964 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,964 in 2025 against 2,021 in 2024, down 2.8 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 771 arrests, against 902 in the same months of 2025.
Baltimore reported only part of 2025 (5 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Fairfield County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Fairfield County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 250 people, down from about 310 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 384 beds, and it ran at 65 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.fairfield.oh.us/FC-Jail-Bureau.html (page title: Jail Bureau | Fairfield County Sheriff's Office), phone 740-652-7900, 345 Lincoln Avenue Lancaster, OH 43130, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, whose inmate locator is at appgateway.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Fairfield County
An arrest in Fairfield County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.fairfield.oh.us/Commonpleas/fc-Case-Information-Records-Search.html, phone 740-652-7360); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.fairfield.oh.us/prosecutor, phone 740-652-7560).
Ohio does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Fairfield County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Ohio Public Records Act the agency must answer promptly, within a reasonable period of time, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 740-652-7900.
- An arrest in Lancaster, Pickerington, Baltimore, Lithopolis, Millersport, Pleasantville or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 740-652-7560, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas, through the court records page at co.fairfield.oh.us, phone 740-652-7360.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at co.fairfield.oh.us (page title: Public Records Request Form | Fairfield County Board of Commissioners).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.
Cities in Fairfield County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for eight of the 14 cities in Fairfield County: Lancaster, Pickerington, Baltimore, Lithopolis, Millersport, Pleasantville, Carroll and Sugar Grove. Bremen, Amanda, Thurston, Stoutsville, Rushville and West Rushville have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Fairfield County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Pickerington (25,814)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Fairfield County each year?
Pleasantville reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,964 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Fairfield County?
Ask the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office at 740-652-7900; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.fairfield.oh.us/FC-Jail-Bureau.html.
Where are people arrested in Fairfield County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Fairfield County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Ohio Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Fairfield County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Ohio Public Records Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable period of time; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at co.fairfield.oh.us.
Is this the official Fairfield County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.